Public consultations concerning Newfoundland and Labrador’s workers’ compensation system are resuming, following a delay earlier this year due to COVID-19.

A statutory review of Newfoundland and Labrador’s workers’ compensation system began earlier this year, with the consultations process open to workers, employers, key stakeholder organizations and the general public. The review provides a valuable opportunity to focus attention on workers’ compensation matters, with the objective of improving the overall system for both workers and employers.

The Statutory Review Committee will be holding consultation sessions from September 28 to October 15. In-person sessions will be held in St. John’s, while video and teleconference will be available province-wide. As these sessions will be closed to the general public, a list of presenters and their presentations will be posted on www.engageNL.ca after all sessions have concluded, with presenters’ consent.

All in-person consultation sessions will be held in accordance with current public health guidelines as established by the Chief Medical Officer of Health.

Those wishing to present at one of the sessions are asked to RSVP by September 30 by emailing info@2019srwcs.ca or phoning 709-729-6381. Written submissions are also accepted until October 9, 2020.

Please note that all RSVPs previously received (prior to the suspension of consultation activities due to COVID-19) will be contacted to schedule a private in-person session should they still wish to present to the Committee. Written submissions received for the prior deadline of April 30, 2020 do not need to be sent again.

For full details on the consultation process and to obtain a copy of the discussion paper please visit www.engageNL.ca, or contact info@2019srwcs.ca or 709-729-6381.

The review process is essential to maintaining a strong workers’ compensation system. The scope of work for the 2019 statutory review aligns with the following themes: efficiencies in the review process; equity in the provision of benefits; and financial sustainability.

In recent years, several significant changes have been made to improve the workers’ compensation system, including presumptive cancer coverage for firefighters; presumptive coverage for post-traumatic stress disorder for all workers; the creation of a new joint Injury Prevention Strategy; a new retirement benefit; and an increase to the Income Replacement Rate for injured workers.

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Media contact
Ryan Crocker
Immigration, Skills and Labour
709-729-1795; 725-9595
ryancrocker@gov.nl.ca